While oft over-looked as “landscaping plants”, perennials are hands-down one of our favorite plants to cultivate for beautiful blooms, unique textures and fragrant foliages to add to bouquets and arrangements.
Not only do perennial plants add incredible diversity to your floral designs, unlike growing tender annuals from seed, perennials are both cost and labor efficient.
Plants that produce unique foliages, blooms and fragrances AND take less work? There’s a reason why we love them!
Actually there are many reasons why we love growing perennials so much…
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Perennials require less labor to grow. Plant a perennial in good soil, harvest stems all season, give it a trim or prune in the fall or early spring…and that’s it. Compared to growing tender annuals from seed, perennials are truly a breeze! They’re truly the “fix it and forget it” of your cut flower garden.
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While perennials can feel pricey upfront (especially compared to the cost of a packet of tender annual seeds), they are hands-down an excellent investment in your garden. A half-gallon or even four inch potted perennial may seem pricey now, but each year it will return bigger and better, whereas tender annuals are finished and ripped out at the end of the season.
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Perennials require less: less water, less fertilizer, less intervention for disease and pest management. All around, you’ll be inputing less which isn’t just a win for you: it’s a win for the environment too.
The Right Plant in the Right Place for the Right Purpose
Now that we’ve sold you on saving more space in your garden for perennials, it’s time to decide which ones to plant!
There are three simple factors to consider when choosing a perennial:
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Is it the right plant for my growing zone? This one is usually pretty easy to answer as recommended growing zones are listed on the back of the plant’s tag.
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Do I have the right space to grow it? Again, recommended light exposure and soil conditions are listed on the back of perennials growing tag.
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Is this the right plant for what I need? Depending on your garden and aesthetic, this could be one question or it could be several: Do you need more foliages? Blooms? Unique colors/textures/berries? How will this plant look in your landscaping or cut flower garden-does it match your garden’s aesthetic?
Once you’ve nailed this down, you’re ready to start picking perennials! Below you’ll find some of our all time favorites. While this is by no means an exhaustive list, it’s a good place to start!
Perennial Shrubs with Beautiful Blooms
Whether you start these plants from seed (we’re looking at you yarrow, echinchea and ) or purchase a 4 inch pot from your local nursery, you’ll be so glad you added some of these workhorses to your garden this year!
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Sedum (We especially love ‘Autumn Joy’, pictured above)
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Geum
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Japanese Anemone
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Rudbeckia (‘Sahara’, or ‘Triloba’)
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Echinacea
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Perennial Scabiosa (‘Butterfly Blue’ or ‘Fama’)
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Eryngium
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Echinops
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Astilbe
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Shasta Daisy
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Fever Few
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Phlox
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Hellebore
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Fox Glove
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Delphinium
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Peony
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Yarrow
